Category Archives: Technology

Updated February 19, 2017 13:32:57

Antarctica can be a harsh and inhospitable place to live and work, yet it is an environment scientists are determined to find out more about.

Climate change appears to be occurring on the icy continent before anywhere else.

The birds and animals there are considered to be early indicators of change.

New tracking technology is giving Australian scientists an unprecedented insight into the hidden world of seabirds, considered to be the sentinels of climate change in the Antarctic.

"It's quite magical really, this tiny tracker on the bird can go out and collect a whole heap of locational information for us and we can get it back without ever having to handle the bird," Dr Anna Lashko said.

Dr Lashko is working from Australia's Davis station over summer with PhD student Phoebe Lewis.

They have been attaching tiny trackers on Adelie penguins and flying seabirds such as Cape petrels.

The latest technology from Poland weighs between five and seven grams and is so small it can be attached to the feathers or legs of petrels.

One of the trackers is powered by a tiny solar panel.

"The solar panel charges the battery of the tracker so it can hold the locational data it's collecting, then when it returns within range of the base station that data gets transferred to the base station," Dr Lashko said.

The other is a miniature new light sensor powered by a tiny battery. It stores information about the bird's movements right through winter.

"It's really amazing. It's enabling us to get information from the birds that we just couldn't get before," Dr Lashko said.

Two hundred and fifty breeding pairs of Cape petrels are nesting on Bluff Island, a rocky outcrop in Prydz Bay surrounded by icebergs in summer and locked in by sea ice in winter.

In summer Dr Lashko and Mr Lewis travel by boat to the island earlier in the season it was still possible to walk or drive out across sea ice.

The scientists have set up a remote data retrieving station on its peak.

It is a short climb up a rocky hill to the data point where Dr Lashko hooks up her laptop and uploads the information, collected from birds with trackers that are revisiting the island.

"When the birds with the trackers come back within about 500 metres of the base station, the data comes into the base station and that is what we are seeing," she said.

"For each individual bird that's returned we can see locational data and dive data, so the tracker knows when the bird gets wet and when it returns, it's really wonderful to see how many have returned."

The smart technology is also able to switch the trackers off when the birds come into range of the island to save the battery.

Lead researcher Dr Louise Emmerson was in the Antarctic at Davis station in Spring last year. She is particularly excited about the developing technology of trackers.

"This new technology has really opened up our capacity to understand this, particularly for the flying seabirds which requires smaller and lighter devices, and we would prefer to minimise our handling of the birds," she said.

Researchers have been tracking Adelie penguins for about 10 years 26,000 breed on Gardner Island near Davis station.

The penguin trackers the researchers use are matchbox size and weigh about 45 grams.

They are attached to the bird's back but scientists need to retrieve those trackers every few weeks and recharge the batteries.

"One of the things we've learnt from the trackers is that the female Adelie penguins, once they've laid the eggs, go off on quite a long trip," Dr Lashko said.

"They can travel up to 450 kilometres away from the colony while they're replenishing the energy they spent laying those eggs.

"Then two or three weeks later, they come back to the colony and swap over with their male partner."

The trackers with longer lasting batteries have given the team some great insights into the lives of Adelie penguins over winter satellite trackers have clocked them travelling great distances for food.

"During winter, the Adelie penguins travel up to 3,500 kilometres away from their colonies, staying mainly at the ice edge and going no further than about 60 degrees south," Dr Emmerson said.

Remote cameras developed by the Australian Antarctic Division are also giving scientists a unique insight into life.

Time lapse footage shows the colony growing and contracting over 12 months.

"The network of cameras has provided windows to the world of breeding birds and the fate of their chicks in remote areas around Antarctica and at times of the year when accessing those sites is nearly impossible," Dr Emmerson said.

On our visit in February adult penguins were returning home to Gardner Island from much shorter trips, with food for their big fluffy brown chicks.

The chicks wait in so-called crches with just a few adults looking after them.

When the parents return to the island and walk the "penguin highway" from the water to the crche, there is pressure to cough up, literally, a mass of regurgitated krill and other fish bits as soon as possible.

What ensues is a hilarious game of chasings.

"You see the chicks chasing the parents looking for food, stumbling over the rocks and the parents running away," Ms Lewis said.

"I think it's a competition sometimes. They have siblings so whoever is fastest gets the most food, which is kind of hilarious to watch."

Ms Lewis, a biologist, loves to observe their feeding behaviours.

"It's also maybe a little bit of training over rough ground, just running and falling and finding their feet," she said.

It might be comical to watch, but this feeding game is a life and death battle.

"There can be very high mortality of the chicks between the time that they hatch until the time that they fledge from the breeding sites," Dr Emmerson said.

Their survival depends on how much food they get from the parents.

Every year as the latest technology gets smaller and smaller its place in the Antarctic grows and grows, and scientists in this harsh and difficult environment are thrilled with the results.

"The new technology has revolutionised our capacity to reach into the harsh and inhospitable Antarctic environment to understand how the birds navigate their landscape and identify their critical foraging areas," Dr Emmerson said.

Topics: birds, animal-science, climate-change, antarctica

First posted February 19, 2017 09:31:39

More here:

New tracking technology gives Australian scientists unprecedented access to seabirds in Antarctica - ABC Online

TRAVERSE CITY The age when kids start carrying cellphones is dropping, and FOMO increasing.

But in a busy teenage world reliant on smart phones, tablets and computers, how much is too much?

Joseph Sanok, owner and licensed counselor at Mental Wellness Counseling, will give a free community talk titled Teens and Technology on Thursday at Eat Learn Frolic, or ELF.

Sanok will cover video game addiction, screen-time solutions and social media as well as how technology can negatively affect the brain.

Its important when we live lives that are go, go, go, he said. We dont have time to step back and reflect. Our best ideas come when our brains turn off.

Parents often ask Sanok what behavior is normal and what is considered an obsession or an addiction in this constantly plugged-in generation.

Setting boundaries and limiting screen time at home especially before bedtime is a good start, but Sanok said it is also necessary to work with children.

We want to teach them to have control, he said. They have a responsibility to use technology appropriately. Its not a right you get to do but something you choose to do.

Sanok said he hopes his presentation will spark further discussion between parents and their children and anyone who works with teens.

Technology becomes a way to have a conversation about things much bigger than tech, he said. Its so dynamic. It has to be an ongoing process.

ELF Chief Marketing Officer Kim Marian said this event is the fourth in their Elf Talks series, which is similar to TED Talks but more focused on family and child-centric topics.

Though her daughter is only 6 months old, Marian said she already enacted a no screen-time rule at her house due, in part, to the recent media use recommendation released by the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Personally, I think theres an over-reliance on tech, she said. Lets actually talk to each other and enjoy time together.

She said she looks forward to learning the facts from Sanok.

This is a great opportunity to get expert insight into benefits and challenges to technology and how to safely incorporate it for your teens, she said. The ultimate goal is to have a dialogue, not only about todays tech but also whats coming down the road.

The ELF Talk Teens and Technology starts at 6 p.m. Feb. 23 at 1371 Gray Dr., Suite 400, in the Village at Grand Traverse Commons. There will be time for questions following Sanoks presentation.

Advanced registration is appreciated. Contact 231-943-2272 or elf@eatlearnfrolic.com with questions.

Read more:

Local counselor gives 'Teens and Technology' talk - Traverse City Record Eagle

On a daily basis, I scan the markets for stocks that have traded sharply lower due to earnings misses, weak guidance or negative press in an effort to find situations where the market has overreacted. Although most of the time there are legitimate reasons behind the size and pace of a selloff, every now and then there are selloffs that are overdone.

This is the case with the recent selloff in Orbotech (NASDAQ:ORBK) after the company reported disappointing 4Q2016 earnings and 1Q2017 guidance a few weeks ago. Despite being an industry leader with a top-notch balance sheet and diversified revenue portfolio, the stock fell over 10%, resulting in valuation multiples below its peer group.

At these valuations, shares of ORBK have an attractive risk/reward profile as I expect growth to accelerate across their divisions during 2017. Based on those growth expectations, I believe that ORBK's valuation multiple should rebound to trade in line with those of the company's peers. As a result, shares should rebound to between $40-$45, representing ~40% upside from current levels.

Overview

ORBK is a supplier of yield-enhancing and process-enabling solutions for the electronics products manufacturing industry. In plain English, their products allow companies that manufacture electronics to efficiently produce complex products and minimize defects to maximize output. The Company is comprised of three divisions: Production Solutions for the Electronics Industry, Solar Energy and Recognition Software.

The Production Solutions for the Electronics Industry segment, which represents 95% of revenue, includes three sub-segments, Printed Circuit Board (PCB), Semiconductor Devices (SD) and Flat Panel Displays (FPD).

Source: Company Presentation

In the Flat Panel Display (FPD) market, ORBK's has established a market-leading position in the fastest growing segments, including Flex OLED. This position has resulted in increased bookings for 2017, providing investors with improved visibility versus previous years.

In the Printed Circuit Board (PCB) market, ORBK's PCB repair tool allows customers to generate 100% yields in manufacturing, thereby reducing costs and improving profitability. As noted on the 4Q2016 conference call, "the PCB industry is expected to return to positive growth mode" in 2017, and management believes the PCB division will become "an even more meaningful part of our growth".

In the Semiconductor Devices (SDD) market, ORBK is the leading company for fan-out packaging, a segment which is expected to grow, and which ORBK should be able to take market share within. Additionally, ORBK is gaining traction in the MEMS market, which the company specifically noted on the 4Q2016 conference call. On the call management noted they expect to "see growth and demand for MEMS coming from the smartphones, automotive, Internet of things and wearables application. As has been widely reported, these industries continue to add a variety of sensors, for example, for automated collision avoidance system, autonomous drive vehicle, and pedestrian sensing in automotive, and new security feature such as fingerprint sensors in small devices."

Based on ORBK's competitive position in its three main markets and the expected growth in each I expect sales to increase to $900M and $970M; and EPS to total $2.75/share and $3.30/share during 2017 and 2018 respectively.

M&A Growth Prospects

In addition to expecting strong organic revenue and earnings growth, ORBK has the balance sheet capacity to make additional strategic acquisitions. Specifically, investors are hopeful that the company makes an acquisition in adjacent markets or further up the value chain.

However, in addition to having the financial capacity to make acquisitions, I believe ORBK management has proven their ability to identify, acquire and integrate acquisitions that deliver significant value for shareholders.

In 2014, ORBK acquired SPTS, a UK-based manufacturer of etch and deposition processing equipment company targeting advanced packaging and MEMS markets. The acquisition, which is now the SDD division of ORBK, cost the company ~$370M ($300M in debt, $90M in cash) and was priced at ~2x sales. Over the last 3 years, the acquisition has proven to be well-timed and well-executed. Since the acquisition, the Fan-Out, advanced packaging and MEMS product lines have driven SDD division a CAGR of ~25% and supported overall company revenue growth.

Source: Jefferies

In addition proving their ability to identify attractive acquisition targets and execute after closing, management has proven its ability to responsibly manage debt loads following acquisitions. As of EOY2016, the company had reduced total debt to ~$88M.

Source: SimplyWall.st

As reflected in the Jefferies analysis below, the company is in a strong position on both a cash/debt basis and Net Debt / FCF basis.

Source: Jefferies

Given its strong financial position, I would expect the company to pursue another large, strategic acquisition in the next 12 months. Based on management's proven ability to create shareholder value through M&A, as represented by the STPS acquisition, I believe any M&A announcement would be a positive catalyst for the share price.

Valuation

Following the company's 4Q2016 earnings call, on which the company reported weaker than expected 4Q2016 results and 1Q2017 guidance below consensus, shares plunged over 10%.

Source: YCharts, Internal Model

To recap, the company reported 4Q16 revenue of $215M (up +5% Q/Q, +14% Y/Y), which was below the midpoint of guidance and consensus due predominantly lower SD sales (down 14% Q/Q). One bright spot of the report was the strength in the FPD and PCB segments, which were +20% Q/Q and +12% Q/Q, respectively. Gross margin came in at 46.8%, which was below both guidance and consensus and was attributed to product mix, foreign exchange and hedging losses. Overall the lower revenue and lower margins led to EPS of $0.70, which was $0.07 below consensus. As a result of the slow SDD sales in 4Q2016, the company revised its guidance lower for 1Q2017, which put further pressure on the shares.

Although it is never great when companies miss and guide lower, I believe the underlying reason for ORBK's 4Q2016 performance and 1Q2017 guidance (lower than expected SDD segment revenue) has been misinterpreted by market participants leading to an overreaction in the share price. Unfortunately, SDD revenues are typically lumpier and a single customer order delay can meaningfully impact revenue. As I see it, the company simply faced SDD order delays during the period and is being conservative for 1Q2017. Despite these short-term headwinds, I believe the SDD division along with the FPD and PCB segments should accelerate through the second half of 2017. In contrast to my view, the market seems to be discounting ORBK's 2017 growth potential because one segment underperformed for one quarter, and that to me represents an opportunity to buy.

Due to the selloff, ORBK not only has underperformed its peers on a historical basis but is also undervalued on a variety of historical metrics. In my analysis I included Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT), Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX), KLA-Tencor (NASDAQ:KLAC), Nova Measuring (NASDAQ:NVMI), Nanometrics (NASDAQ:NANO) and Teradyne (NYSE:TER).

Source: YCharts, Internal Model

In addition to being undervalued on a historical basis, the company also seems to be undervalued relative to its future growth.

Based on my EPS and Sales targets, which are in line with many sell-side analysts, if ORBK traded at peer average PE or P/S ratio levels, the share price would be meaningfully higher.

Based on the peer average PE / 2017E Earnings ratio of 15.6x and target earnings of $2.75/share, the stock is trading at a 39% discount to the fair value price of ~$43/share.

Risks

Despite its growth prospects and valuation, there remain risks associated with an investment in ORBK.

First, should macroeconomic conditions deteriorate, causing a decrease in spending by ORBK's customers, my earnings estimates and price target would be negatively impacted.

Second, given that ORBK operates in a cyclical business, should electronics demand weaken or capital investment in China slow, it would materially impact ORBK's stock price. Additionally, ORBK has relatively high customer concentration and geographic (China and larger Asian-Pacific region) concentration risk. Should one of their major customers reduce spending or a regional macroeconomic event unfold in Asia, ORBK would be negatively impacted.

Finally, while I believe ORBK has a strong competitive position in the markets it operates in, there is always the risk that competition drives prices and margins lower.

Summary

As a leading supplier of solutions that are critical in the time-to-market sequence of its technology-focused customers, ORBK is ideally positioned to benefit as demand for mainstream products, such as smartphones, tablets, monitors, and flat panel TVs increases for the foreseeable future.

The company has a strong competitive position, the firepower to make another strategic acquisition and is undervalued relative to its peers across a variety of metrics.

I believe an investment in ORBK offers an attractive risk/reward profile at these price levels following the overreaction of the market to the most recent earnings release.

Disclosure: I am/we are long ORBK.

I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.

Additional disclosure: I recently opened a position in ORBK based on the thesis outlined in this article.

View post:

Orbotech: Technology Manufacturing Growth Stock - Seeking Alpha

Forbes

How Digital Printing Technology Is Taking Us Closer To Fully Customizable Clothing Forbes The future of fashion, according to Epson, is all about customization from the prints and colors we choose to wear, to indeed the size and shape that best suits us. Tie together digital printing, a bit of artificial intelligence and some robotics on ...

View original post here:

How Digital Printing Technology Is Taking Us Closer To Fully Customizable Clothing - Forbes

DENVER -- All state and county Colorado driver license offices closed at 3 p.m. Friday for a technology upgrade and won't be back open until Tuesday.

"The closuredoes not affect county title and registration offices, but does impact the driver license services offered in the following county motor vehicle offices: Arapahoe, Baca, Cheyenne, Douglas, El Paso,Kiowa, Kit Carson, Lake, Lincoln, Phillips,Sedgwick, Washington and Yuma," Colorado Department of Revenue officials said in a news release.

"We've been doing a lot of work to reduce wait times in our offices and also enhance our customer experience at the DMV," said Lynn Granger, director of communications for the Colorado Department of Revenue. "In the recent years we've made a lot of progress in that. Customers are now able to pay via credit card, we've opened some locations at 7 a.m., we've also added some advisors at our locations to help with the check-in process."

Granger said starting Tuesday, 11 new services will be offered online offering customers convenient ways to "skip the trip" to the DMV.

They include:

The goal is to reach an average initial wait time of 15 minutes or less for 65 percent of customers by July 1, 2017. Through January 31, 2017 the DMV said it was within its goal with 70.7 percent of customers seen within 15 minutes.

"It'd be awesome because it'd save guys like me who know how to use the computer a lot less time to come here," said customer Raul Tovar.

Offices will remain closed through Monday, February 20 for President's Day. They will reopen on Tuesday, Feb. 21.

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Original post:

Technology upgrade aims to cut wait times at Colorado driver license offices - The Denver Channel

SHRM

'Brogrammer' Attitude May Hinder Technology Diversity SHRM Forty-five percent of female technology workers say they have witnessed exclusionary behavior in the workplace, according to a new study of more than 1,000 tech workers by Austin, Texas-based tech job board Indeed. Experts cite the "brogrammer" culture ...

Excerpt from:

'Brogrammer' Attitude May Hinder Technology Diversity - SHRM

Shipping oil by rail has earned a spotty reputation in recent years after a series of train derailments across North America resulted in high-profile explosions and environmentally damaging spills. Canadian National Railway Co. is hoping something the size of a bar of soap can help clean up some of those problems.

Canadas largest railway filed a patent for a new technology on Friday that turns bitumen the heavy crude produced at the oil sands into a mostly solid dry good, by mixing and wrapping it with polymer. In the event of an accident, the packets would not explode, leak, or sink in water, the railway believes.

The invention still has to go through more testing, but the concept could emerge as a niche alternative to current methods of shipping bitumen, which require diluent, a petroleum additive that allows the thick sludge to be pumped into pipelines or rail cars, but also increases the flammability of the product.

Its still early days, so theres a lot of work still to do. First and foremost, we want to perfect the pellet in terms of its shape, its size and the exact composition of polymer that we use in it, said Janet Drysdale, vice-president of corporate development at CN. The pellets, currently in round form, will eventually be produced as flat squares or rectangles, so that they are stackable as a dry good.

We want to do the studies that will prove that it will float in fresh water, salt water, how it behaves in cold and in heat. All of that will be validated with additional lab work.

The polymer-infused crude, which resembles thick jelly if the soap-sized tablets are cut open, is designed to be much less flammable. Its pretty thick stuff, said Ross Chow, vice-president of InnoTech Alberta, a provincially funded organization that worked with CN on the patent.

Success of the invention will depend on whether oil-sands producers and refiners are willing to adopt the technology at a cost that is roughly equivalent to shipping bitumen with diluent now, CN says.

The tablets wouldnt prevent accidents like the 2013 Lac-Mgantic rail disaster, which killed 47 people when an oil train exploded in the Quebec town, since that accident involved highly volatile light oil that resembled gasoline. The technology hasnt been developed for lighter forms of oil, but it could make shipping bitumen and other heavy oil products safer, CN believes.

Nor is the invention seen as a replacement for pipelines, which are the dominant arteries for shipping large quantities of crude. But the technology could give oil-sands producers who lack pipeline access a new way to reach refineries in North America, Asia and other overseas markets.

If spilled into the ocean, the buoyant pellets dubbed CanaPux can be retrieved by vacuuming them up. On land, they can be picked up by hand, or with machinery, CN said.

One potential hurdle to exporting petroleum products through CNs Port of Prince Rupert terminal is the tanker ban that covers the coast of Northern B.C. The ban, announced by Ottawa in the fall, formalizes a long-term moratorium on petroleum ships and is intended to protect the sensitive marine environment from the disastrous effects of large spills. Partially upgraded bitumen is included in the ban, but it isnt clear if CNs bitumen-polymer pellets would be exempt.

To the best of our knowledge, the tanker ban would be applied specifically to liquid hydrocarbons that are deemed to be relatively more risk if there is a spill in a marine environment, Ms. Drysdale said. In terms of the solid bitumen product, it floats, it doesnt leech, and it doesnt dissolve.

Transport Minister Marc Garneau said the technology must undergo testing before the tablets could be exempted as a dry good, but he called the innovation encouraging.

Were making a list of the products that fall within the moratorium ban, and wed have to make a decision on whether that would be excluded from it But theres a lot of homework to do before we establish that, Mr. Garneau said. If it lands in the water, does it remain in solid form, and how easily is it recoverable?

That analysis would be made in conjunction with Environment Canada and Natural Resources Canada, Mr. Garneau said.

Once the pellets reach a refinery, heating separates the bitumen and polymer mixture, along with their polymer casing. The tablets are also designed to absorb the weight of being stacked on each other. It has to handle a lot of different forces, said James Auld, senior manager of corporate development at CN.

Crude-oil shipments by rail rose sharply six years ago, driven by a lack of pipeline space in North America. The increase was spurred by rising petroleum production in new oil fields that lacked pipelines, particularly the Bakken Formation that touches parts of North Dakota, Montana, Saskatchewan and Manitoba.

But the fatal derailment in Lac-Mgantic, Que., awoke the world to the dangers of moving millions of barrels of oil on trains using thin-walled tank cars better suited to canola oil. Despite new rules requiring tank cars be built to better withstand derailments, there have been several fiery train derailments since then, involving a number of different railways.

In early 2015, a 100-car CN train carrying synthetic crude, which is a form of upgraded heavy oil, derailed on a broken track near Gogama, Ont., causing a fire that burned for five days. The Transportation Safety Board released its report on the accident Thursday, calling for better track maintenance, more stringent employee training and stricter rules from Transport Canada on how oil is transported. This accident occurred on an isolated stretch of rail in Northern Ontario, and thankfully no one was injured, TSB chairwoman Kathy Fox said.

The plunge in oil prices over the past two years has since reduced the amount of crude moving by rail, as producers and refiners balked at the cost of rail transport, which can be as high as $22 (U.S.) a barrel in some cases, almost twice that of a pipeline. However, the amount of crude moving by train has surged lately as oil-patch production picked up again, and pipelines fill up. In November, oil exports by rail rose to 120,000 barrels a day, up 20 per cent from the previous year, according to the National Energy Board.

Follow Eric Atkins on Twitter: @ericatkins2

Go here to read the rest:

CN develops technology that could make bitumen transportation safer - The Globe and Mail

BLACKSBURG, Va. (WDBJ7) Virginia could soon be seeing all new kinds of technology thanks to college students around the Commonwealth.

Friday marked the kickoff of the annual VT Hacks Hackathon.

Hundreds of students from colleges and universities around the country were inside Torgersen Hall at Virginia Tech starting a 36-hour Hackathon.

It's an opportunity for young men and women who are studying different kinds of technology to come together and develop tools of the future.

There were computers, hardware, and cell phones. Everything the students will need to create new projects we could soon see in the real world.

Christopher Blair, from the VT Hacks Sponsorship Committee, said, "Things like you see on television, like all these big apps, most of them start right here at the Hackathon. We have a lot of [Computer Science] majors, a lot of engineering, business majors, everyone comes together to create these big projects."

With 400-500 students working in groups of four or less, the Hackathon promised to have a large variety of project ideas.

Virginia Tech student Jacob Merizian said, "We have this one idea that's starting to form kind of based on turning group chats into t-shirts, if you can picture it."

Virginia Commonwealth University student William Merritt added, "We're probably thinking about doing either an Android app or doing something with Raspberry Pi, some sort of autonomous development, something of that nature."

And because students made the drive to Virginia Tech from around the Commonwealth, ideas could be passed to try to develop them further.

Radford University student Mitchell Powell explained, "It really brings in the community. I'm from Radford, my friends are from Tech, I've seen some people from VCU and Bridgewater here, so it's really a great community event to try to reach out an network with folks."

But it was not just about the projects and ideas that come from the Hackathon. This could also lead to successful careers for these students.

VT Hacks Co-Head of Sponsorship Sean Crenshaw said, "A lot of the people who come to these events are Computer Science majors and companies love to see that they've worked on a personal project that they took their own personal time to make, especially when you get to work on a team."

The Hackathon kicked off Friday at 6:00 pm and will continue until Sunday afternoon.

But the students won't be working 36 hours straight. There will be breaks, meals, and time for fun, like a video game tournament planned.

But it will be exciting to see on Sunday what kind of technology has been developed and projects made.

See the article here:

Virginia Tech Hackathon provides opportunity for technology development - WDBJ7

FRANKFURT German and U.S. defence groups Rheinmetall (RHMG.DE) and Raytheon (RTN.N) have signed a memorandum of understanding to cooperate globally on defence technology, they said in a joint statement on Friday.

The partnership should bring together Raytheon's market-leading position in air-defence systems and guided missiles with Rheinmetall's expertise in combat and defence systems, army weapons and munitions, they said.

Raytheon is looking to expand in Europe, with missile bids in Poland and Germany, and wants to take part in an anticipated buildup of spending by NATO.

U.S. President Donald Trump has warned NATO allies they must honour military spending pledges to ensure the United States does not "moderate" support for the alliance.

(Reporting by Georgina Prodhan; Additional reporting by Andrea Shalal in Munich; Editing by Maria Sheahan)

The initial public offering of Snap Inc, owner of the popular messaging app Snapchat, is expected to price March 1 after the market closes, Fidelity Investments told brokerage clients on Friday.

NEW YORK Japan's SoftBank Group Corp is prepared to give up control of Sprint Corp to Deutsche Telekom AG's T-Mobile US Inc to clinch a merger of the two U.S. wireless carriers, according to people familiar with the matter.

Accenture Plc said on Friday it would create 15,000 "highly skilled" new jobs in the United States, as IT services firms brace for a more protectionist U.S. technology visa program under President Donald Trump.

More:

Rheinmetall, Raytheon to cooperate in defence technology - Reuters

Nvidias business is increasingly the business of artificial intelligence, and its latest partnership fits with that new role. The graphics processing maker is supplying the Tokyo Institute of Technology for the GPUs that will power its new AI supercomputer, which will be the fastest of its kind in Japan once completed.

Nvidia Tesla P100 GPUs, which use Pascal processing architecture, will be used in the creation of the cluster, which will be known as TSUBAME3.0, and which will replace TSUBAME2.5 with twice the performance capabilities. Dont feel too badly for TSUBAME2.5, however its still going to be in active use, adding its power to TSUBAME3.0s projected 47 petaflops for a combined total of 64.3 petaflops in total youd need a heck of a lot of iPhones to match that (like very, very insanely many).

The goal is for TSUBAME3.0 to be up and processing by this summer, where its prowess will be put to use in service for education and high-tech research at the Tokyo academic institution. Itll also be available for private sector contracting, and the school says it cant wait to start teaching the new virtual brain.

Read the original:

Tokyo Institute of Technology taps Nvidia for Japan's fastest AI supercomputer - TechCrunch